THE SUBMISSION WINDOW IS NOW CLOSED!! Have you ever wondered if your manuscript would hook a teen reader? We all have. So what better way to find out than a contest with the talented teens of TEEN EYES EDITORIAL. How is this going to work? You’ll post a 35-word pitch and the first 250 words of your middle grade or young adult manuscript in the comments of this post from now and we’ll take entries until August 26 at 1PM EDT. Your manuscript doesn’t have to be completed, but the pitch and first page should be polished. The three Teen Eyes editors will go through the comments and each select one winner. The winners will be announced on September 1st. What are the prizes? There will be three (3) winners. The winners will receive a free 25-page critique from the editors. Each Teen Eyes editor will pick the entry they feel is best, and then work with that writer on the critique. Can I enter this contest if I entered Pitch Wars? Absolutely. The critique would be an added pair of eyes on your manuscript … teen eyes. If you make it into Pitch Wars and win a critique from Teen Eyes, you and your mentor will decide how best to use the critique. Formatting … Your Name Your Email Title of Work Category/Genre Your 35-word (max) pitch. (Single spaced, a space between paragraphs, no indentions.) The first 250 words of your manuscript. If the 250th word stops in the middle of a sentence, go to the end of that sentence. (Single spaced, a space between paragraphs, no indentions.) Here’s a bit about the teen editors . . . Kate Coursey Editor Twitter Kate Coursey has been editing professionally since 2010. She helped found Teen Eyes in 2011, working with clients from all over the world to perfect their manuscripts. As a YA autho, her novel LIKE CLOCKWORK won Scholastic’s PUSH Novel Contest when she was 16 years old. In addition to having extensive experience as a freelance editor, Kate worked as an intern at Scholastic Press, where she read many agented and unagented submissions. She received the prestigious Sterling Scholar Grant in 2011 based on an extensive creative writing sample. Later that year, Kate underwent a comprehensive evaluation of her editorial skills, beating out dozens of post-grad students for an editorial internship at a mid-sized publisher. She is currently finishing up her ninth novel, which took first place in the LDS Storymakers First Chapter Contest. Kate spends far too much time messing around on the Internet and occasionally succumbs to caffeine-induced fits of hysteria at...

The fabulous Mónica B. Wagner, author of FROSH: FIRST BLUSH, has put together a mega giveaway with some of our Pitch Wars mentors. Obviously, all the Pitchwars mentors are slotted into specific categories and genres. That keeps you from getting help from some great experts. But here is your chance to get help from a mentor you couldn’t normally submit to! Everyone can enter once and after that, if you help out a mentor by buying or preordering their books, you’ll get additional entries from them. Some of the Pitch Wars mentors, including me, are hosting a chapter-critique Rafflecopter Giveaway! Anyone can enter. It will run until September 4, 2015! Here’s the list of mentors that will participate giving a chapter critique: Brenda Drake, author of TOUCHING FATE and THIEF OF LIES. Mónica B. Wagner, author of FROSH: FIRST BLUSH. Kate Brauning, author of HOW WE FALL. Emily Martin, author of THE YEAR WE FELL APART. N.K. Traver, author of DUPLICITY. Helene Dunbar, author of WHAT REMAINS. Joy McCullough-Carranza, who’s supporting Laura’s Shovan book, THE LAST FIFTH GRADE OF EMERSON ELEMENTARY. J.A. Souders, author of RENEGADE~REVELATIONS~REBELLION Elizabeth Briggs, author of MORE THAN MUSIC, MORE THAN COMICS, MORE THAN FASHION. Kelly Siskind, author of CHASING CRAZY. Trisha Leaver, author of THE SECRETS WE KEEP. Jaye Robin Brown, author of NO PLACE TO FALL and WILL’S STORY: A No Place To Fall Novella. Michelle Hauck, author of GRUDGING: BIRTH OF SAINTS and KINDAR’S CURE. K.T. Hannah, author of CHAMELEON. Stacey Graham, author of HAUNTED STUFF: Demonic Dolls, Screaming Skulls, and Other Creepy Collectibles. Lee Gjertsen Malone, author of THE LAST BOY AT ST. EDITH’S. Sarah Nicolas, author of DRAGONS ARE PEOPLE, TOO. Brighton Walsh, author of CAGED IN WINTER, TESSA EVER AFTER, CAPTIVE and EXPOSED. Stacey Trombley, author or NAKED. Kate Karyus Quinn, author of (DON’T YOU) FORGET ABOUT ME, ANOTHER LITTLE PIECE, and DOWN WITH THE SHINE. Here’s how this giveaway will work: you’ll get a free entry just for stopping by and signing in, and if you want to increase your chances, you can support the mentors by buying their books or pre-ordering them. If you want to increase your odds to get a critique from a particular mentor, you can go and buy/preorder said mentor’s book by following the links above. You can buy more than one book, and up your chances in more than one giveaway, too! You might even win a chapter critique by more than one mentor. UPDATE!! The giveaway ended and here are the winners! WOOHOO!! Kate Brauning winner: Nicole Hoeffs. Michelle Hauck winner: Heather. Sarah Nicolas winner: Meredith Kreisa. Lee Gjersten Malone winner:...

Brenda Drake, Founding Director

New York Times bestselling author of Thief of Lies (Library Jumpers #1), Guardian of Secrets (Library Jumpers #2), Touching Fate (Fated Series #1), and Cursing Fate (Fated Series #2) available now, creator of #PitchWars, #PitchMadness, and #PitMad, fueled by coffee and Goldfish crackers (but not together), and represented by Peter Knapp with The Park Literary Group. @brendadrake

Nikki Roberti, Media Director

Nikki is a professional journalist and marketer with more than a decade of published writing experience. She is also a young adult author represented by Laura Bradford of the Bradford Literary Agency. Before writing novels, she was a seven-time award winning playwright with her short pieces performed around the country, including The Kennedy Center in D.C. @Nikki_Roberti

Monica Hoffman, Communications Director

Monica M. Hoffman is a YA Sci-Fi and Fantasy author represented by Laurie McLean & Tricia Skinner of Fuse Literary. She's an active member of SCBWI & the writing community. She’s a Trekkie, Star Wars fanatic, and a PC gamer. You can find her tweets about all things YA lit & entertaining GIFs @mmhoffman14

Pitch Wars Mentor Liaison, Joy McCullough

Joy is a freelance editor, ghostwriter, and author assistant, as well as an MG/YA writer represented by Jim McCarthy. Six of her past Pitchwars mentees have signed with agents (so far!), and their books include THE LAST FIFTH GRADE OF EMERSON ELEMENTARY by Laura Shovan (Wendy Lamb Books/Random House, 2016), FORGET ME NOT by Ellie Terry (Feiwel&Friends/Macmillan, 2017), and ALAN COLE IS NOT A COWARD by Eric Bell (Katherine Tegen Books/Harper, 2017). You can find her on Twitter @JMCwrites

Pitch Wars Mentee Liaison, Yamile Saied Méndez

Yamile (prounounced sha-MEE-lay) Saied Méndez is an immigrant writer and reader, a dreamer and fighter, a Vermont College of Fine Arts MFA graduate, a 2014 New Visions Award Honor Winner, and one the 2015 Walter Dean Myers Inaugural Grant recipients. She’s a Writer’s Voice 2014 finalist, and a Utah Arts Council 2016 finalist as well. Born and raised in Rosario, Argentina (cradle of fútbol), she now lives in Alpine, Utah with her husband, five children, and three dogs, but her heart is with her family scattered all over the world. Find her on twitter: @YamileSMendez

Pitch Wars Events Manager, Leigh Mar

Leigh Mar is a marketing and communications professional and a young adult author represented by Elana Roth Parker at Laura Dail Literary Agency. She loves to travel (both in reality and through fiction), has an excellent sense of direction, and only ever gets lost on the internet. @LeighMar_

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New York Times bestselling author of Thief of Lies (Library Jumpers #1), Guardian of Secrets (Library Jumpers #2), Touching Fate (Fated Series #1), and Cursing Fate (Fated Series #2) available now, creator of #PitchWars, #PitchMadness, and #PitMad, fueled by coffee and Goldfish crackers (but not together), and represented by Peter Knapp with The Park Literary Group.